National Representation

[hamgatan]

I just had some ideas which I think I'd like to voice as the thought has crossed my mind a lot and I think it would be a positive step for the club.

The Idea of National Representation.

I dont think anyone could have predicted the massive expansion and huge uptake that the Toymods community has become over the last 8 or 9 years that the club has been around. When the original founders came together there was all but a dozen of you utilising the power of the internet back then to communicate and form a small club dedicated to the love of Toyota's craftsmanship.

And over time the club has grown to be phenomenal. Not just in the member base, forum members are well in the thousands, club members, what? 5 or 600 yes? not to mention the expanded International presence that has grown rapidly with the expansion. Of course with any such expansion, it should be noted that infrastructure should be catered to support it.

I personally joined in 2003 when i acquired my first Toyota. God bless the MA61. Previous to that I've had crap cars.. Lancers, Commodores, Hyundai Coupe, Civic... When i acquired my first Toyota and i found this community I felt like I'd reached a changing point in my life as I'd finally found a car manufacturer, and more importantly a community that I loved and respected. And true to my word, I dont ever think my garage will not have a single Toyota in it. Over time I've come to become a part of this community and appreciate every single piece of information and help I've recieved from the warmness of every forum and club member. Toymods has been an honest, reliable second family and I feel like I'm part of something.

Now I know i'm not the only one who feels this way.

The thing is, the club has grown so large, to cover every state in Australia, from its original roots in NSW, to a large following all across the eastern seaboard, SA, and even WA. Yet, all we see on Toymods 'Official' Events covers NSW only.

As none of us interstate members can usually come to the AGM or other meetings, I felt I'd start up a thread outlining a proposal I had in mind to create a 'State Chapter' based system, obviously with the current Toymods Board preciding over as a National Board, rather than just NSW based.

I think having a couple of responsible Club Members in every state to organise state based events such as Cruises, Shows, Charity runs etc..etc.. would be far more effective in spreading the beauty of this community than basing the entire thing out of NSW and hoping people from every state/internatational google search and come across the community that way. What I see from over west here is for example, recently there was a large charity run which encompassed many clubs. PerthWRX, SilviaWA, and SupraWA, but was Toymods there? No. Where is the nations largest Toyota community in such big events?

Obviously under the Toymods Constitution as being a club of elected board members and such, It would be up to the member community to Elect such members. I just think that due to the size of the club and the rate its expanding, we should look at this for the long term prosperity and expansion of the club?

Thoughts?

[Kirsty2520]

I can see some VERY good reasons for it to happen actually.
The main one being the NATIONWIDE exposure of the club.

I have thought for a while now that the out of Sydney financial members are getting a raw deal where the events are concerned.

What can I do.....?
At this stage nothing until the next board meeting when all of the board get together to talk about the pro's and Con's of such things.

Some things people would have to look at for WA is things like The Insurence ( I don't know enough about it yet to go into detail but I will make it my mission over the next 2 days to find out) Bank accounts and how they would work, Merchandise and memberships... is all that still going to go through the board that already stands or are you guys going to do your own little thing over there??

Just some things for you to have a think about

Please Note
This is just MY opinion and not that of the entire board

[Starfire]

Is there a local club in WA? I know that QLD and SA have Toyota clubs.

Here in SA we have the ToyotaCarClub.net which according to the constitution, can set up sub organizations based on locations (other states) or special interests (supra, celica, mr2, etc.) As the club grows these are becoming a real option.

[hamgatan]

We have a few. SupraWA, OST, MR2WA...

However there hasn't been a collective vision to bring everyone together. Thats what we need.

[Roscos]

When it was known as the Celica Car Clubs of which ever state, SA, Vic, Queensland, Canberra and WA, they all worked together to run Dubbo.

There was never a club out of Sydney, and as the other clubs started to decline in numbers because its older members were starting to get bored with it and there were not enough newer members coming through, they then joined with other Toyota clubs to become Toyota Car Club of Australia. Most of the clubs had a constution in place at that time, so they just changed it all over to suit the other club.

Since Toymods Car Club formed and we have the internet today this club has taken off only because of the net. (Where were you boys 20 years ago) There is supposely a Toymods in Victoria but it is the best kept secret l have ever seen.

If Sydney chapter of Toymods has a constution which should cover Australia, then maybe they should have in all the other states and then you could become Toymod of Australia LTD.


Rosco

[hamgatan]

Some things people would have to look at for WA is things like The Insurence ( I don't know enough about it yet to go into detail but I will make it my mission over the next 2 days to find out) Bank accounts and how they would work, Merchandise and memberships... is all that still going to go through the board that already stands or are you guys going to do your own little thing over there??

bank accounts wouldnt be neccessary, i think that kind of thing can still be handled from NSW as far as club management goes.. theres no real need for states to infringe on that area of financial aspects of the club. its more for things like Cruises, Events, Fundraisers, etc..etc.. Like a State Cruise Secretary, State Social Events Coordinator, Etc..etc..

[whatthe?]

Wouldnt it just be easier to use the forums as a vehicle to organise events for those in your state? I personally have trouble seeing the need for the exhaustive infrastructure youre suggesting. If you want to contribute to the club run a sausage sizzle at your event and donate proceeds less your costs

Just my 2c though...

[hamgatan]

true, but i think there should be some level of officiality and professional organisation to it..

i like to call it the wookie-filter.

theres also the issue of interstate members getting a little jipped because all the club sponsors that give discounts, priveleges for club card holders are in NSW. i think it would be cool if a Toymods chapter in each state could organise state level sponsors and expand the presence of the club this way as well.

[Kirsty2520]

you are more them welcome to locate sponsors in your area already and send Rod the information.
He has a thread in this section about what types of sponsorship is available and what is required.

[Joshstix]

Hi Hamgatan

There are a few issues involved here.

Legally Toymods is only incorporated in NSW and we are not able to run events outside of NSW as we would not be covered by our insurance.

More importantly however, we have worked pretty darn hard to get Toymods to where it is as a respected group of car enthusiasts. This isn't an easy thing to achieve but it is extremely easy to destroy simply by one or two people getting busted doing the wrong thing and having that associated back to the club. In light of this we as a club are quite hesitant in allowing other groups that we are not able to regulate use our name.

In an ideal world it would be great to see a fully fledged Toymods club in each state. Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world and we have enough trouble with getting the current committments of the club effectively handled, without needing to run events in other states.

Ideally events and clubs really should be run by those that are local. This is one of the reasons why we are very much into promoting the greater Toyota community and happy to help out others who seriously want to start a club. We have the interstate section to help get people organising and attending events in other states in an attempt to kick start clubs or at least "groups" of like minded enthusiasts in the area's that we cannot effectively cover ourselves.

I do recognise the fact that a membership for those outside of NSW does not have the same percieved value as one for someone in Sydney. The fact is though that there are very few events Toymods runs which are only for members, non members are welcome at pretty much everything we run with just a small extra charge for food or dyno runs. What being a member does get you is access to the Toymods merchandise, sponsor discounts, extra access to the forums and of course a voice in how the club is run. None of these things are really location specific. If the concern is sponsor related please feel free to look for possible sponsors that would be good for you, thetoyman75 should be able to provide you with some web stats if needed to demonstrate to potential sponsors how much market penetration they would make.

The club is extremely happy to have members from all over the country, just ask the guys who made it over for ToyotaFest

It seems from your posts that you are after a single national entity for everyone in the Toyota Community. Unfortunately this is just not going to happen. The classic example of this would be the fact that Toyota Nationals has been run over Easter for the last 20 odd years, however the Soarer nationals are also on over Easter and this year the first MR2 nationals is on over Easter as well. Different people want different things from a club. Over here in Coastal NSW I can think of at least four Toyota Club's.

In an informal manner Toymods is affiliated with CCG and the Toyota Nationals guys. We are happy to be associated with and support the events of other like minded entities that are well run.

I guess what this all boils down to is YES a worldwide Toymods empire would be great but the amount of work involved and the risk to the name of the club is just too great.

[thechuckster]

Just to add a Qld voice to this discussion ...

An umbrella organisation ... it would be an up-hill battle, simply in terms of cost and effort.

Perhaps a federation (in name-only) of clubs might be an alternative route - but again, that model of associated membership runs into trouble once the size of the thing grows beyond what can be reasonably done in people's spare time.

How it would work and benefit both the state-based clubs and national events like the Toyota Nationals I don't know - but it would be great to bring these ideas to the table (or over someone's grubby engine bay at the beer-fuelled friday and saturday night) at the Nationals.

note: I'm not speaking as the Toyota Car Club Qld President at the moment, but it (a national grouping of toyota clubs) does rate a mention regularly at meetings..

cheers,
Charles.

[JBs]

Just to add a Qld voice to this discussion ...

An umbrella organisation ... it would be an up-hill battle, simply in terms of cost and effort.

Perhaps a federation (in name-only) of clubs might be an alternative route - but again, that model of associated membership runs into trouble once the size of the thing grows beyond what can be reasonably done in people's spare time.

cheers,
Charles.

I'm not sure how the legals are worked out but I believe this is pretty much how the MR2 owners club is set up. Each state has it's own board and organises it's own runs, we all get together for runs like the Great Ocean rd and the MR2 nationals and a few others, but apart from that I believe everything else is in house and it seems to work.

[stradlater]

A) Why do you think Toymods NSW financial members are getting a raw deal on the events?

B) What is this about Toymods VIC? I've never heard of such a thing, though I did many years ago suggest that I could start it down here as a branch of the above.

[sillycar chick]

Without getting into all the politics that Joshtix has mentioned, I too would like to see state chapters of the club. Unfortunately I just cant see myself forking out for a club membership for a club that is based in NSW and I cant possbily attend meetings and events. It is dissapointing and unfortunate as I think Toymods is a great club, but I just dont see any extra benefit of paying the membership if I dont gain much out of it Im pretty broke at the moment as it is.

Given my life is pretty hectic at the moment, I've been trying to even find the time to rock up to a TCCQ meeting - its on the cards chuckster but Uni is very hectic at the moment and im barely finding the time to fix up 51LII she is in desperate need of attention TCCQ would be the closest thing to the sort of club Im looking for and I have heard great things of the club

But in all seriousness Joshtix, what would it take to extend your insurance policies to state chapters? Has the option already been explored? If so, we would all like to hear about it, as there are plenty of interstate Toymodders who would be interested in a state chapter. And furthermore, to uphold the reputable name Toymods has worked so hard to achieve, what would it take to have respectable members from each state assigned as board members for that particular state to uphold that name like the current board members in NSW do? Surely the same ethics that are displayed by the NSW club could be extended to other state through selection of the right people to do the job.

I do understand that there are a lot of complications and legalities behind the scenes, and I appreciate that, but I still dont think it is impossible and I personnaly think it would do nothing but strengthen the club and further promote the positive image it already has.
I also think there are plenty of reputable interstate forum members who's say on the matter should at least hold some ground with Toymods as we are all here to share the same passion you guys are Just food for thought. Keep up the great work, we do appreciate it, we just would like to see the benefits extended to the rest of Australia.

[thechuckster]

just on the insurance thing - the TCCQ has re-affiliated with the Marque Sporting Car Club in Qld - a sort of umbrella car club to allow small clubs to let members get CAMS licences. It has an insurance arrangement for non-competitive events (e.g. show-n-shine, nav-cruise, dyno day etc) for $50 per 50 cars for affiliated clubs. And for competitive events (e.g. motorkhana, regularity trial, autokhana) they can help out with the CAMs paperwork and fees.

Marque was specifically setup to assist clubs in holding CAMS-sanctioned events - so it is another model worth looking at (tho probably not doing given the tyranny of distance).